Data is recorded on magnetic tape cartridges (MTCs) in accordance with the DIN standard 66229.A; the preceding standard is DIN 66029, which applies to magnetic tape devices.
The data transmission rate from and to magnetic tape cartridge is increased greatly by buffering the data in the controller of the MTC device. However, the user can deactivate this buffering for writing.
For the most part, the processing of files on MTC is the same as the processing of files on magnetic tapes. Program incompatibilities will result only when processing in buffered mode if an unrecoverable error occurs during writing and data is to be restored from the buffer by means of a program routine, or when writing checkpoints. If unbuffered mode is used, these incompatibilities will not occur, but processing will be considerably slower.
Further information about using MTC can be found in section “Use of MTC systems”.